Perhaps a relationship isn’t working out, or you have or someone you know has an illness, or you are emotionally unsettled, or you may have lost your job or fear losing it, or you are worried about financial security, or you are questioning whether there really is a God (use whatever word feels right for you). It doesn’t matter in what form trials present themselves, what’s significant is that we don’t give up.

Yes, these challenges and many others can exhaust your patience and cause you to question your purpose and happiness. They may create fears, doubts, worries, stress and a feeling of being alone and perhaps even throwing in the towel.

It doesn’t take any more energy to focus on the negative or positive, so the question you might ask is, “Which one am I choosing to fixate on?”

Are you choosing to look at the problem or the solution?

Are you blaming and complaining about what’s transpiring or are you being inspired?

This is the time for progression; taking a leap of faith. Trying something new can be scary at the best of times, but when it seems as if there isn’t a choice in the matter or that it’s out of your hands, it can seem downright frightening.

How will you get through it; will you get through it; what should you do; where will you end up; will you be alone; will there be enough money; etc?

These are all great questions but they aren’t solutions. They are fear based and they don’t generate many possibilities and progression in your thinking.

Yet if you reword these questions, they turn from fear into freedom of choice.

I will get through this and here are steps and ideas on how.

I’m not sure where I’ll end up and that’s okay because it’s about the journey not the destination.

I’m never alone because I am connected to the greatest source of love and hope.

There will be enough money because I trust I will be guided to whatever or whomever I need at the time.

Elevate your thinking by looking closer at where you might be giving up, giving in, or staying stuck.

Befriend your fears by transforming them into opportunities to grow and evolve because that’s really what they’re about.

Giving up is easy; taking a leap of faith takes courage and is well worth the strides.

You might not know where or how things will be, but you’re making progress.

Keep at it until you get lucky. Isn’t it good advice? It’s concise but there is a lot of truth to it. It clearly describes the nature of success and what you need to do to achieve it.

I read about it in a post by J.A. Konrath. While the post itself is about self-ublishing, I believe that the advice applies to other fields as well. If you want to succeed in something, you need to keep at it until you get lucky.

My own experiences confirm this advice. Let’s take a closer look at some elements of the advice:

1. Luck plays a role

This is an important nature of success. Some people may not like it and think that they can control everything. But the truth is, luck does play a role. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell gives us some good examples of it.

So if you have worked hard and still haven’t succeeded, that’s fine. Don’t get discouraged or disappointed. You just haven’t got lucky yet. On the other hand, if you are successful then don’t be proud. You might not be as smart as you think you are.

2. Persistence increases your chance

While luck does play a role, it’ doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything about it. You can increase your chance by being persistence.

For example, let’s say you flip a coin and you call heads. But the coin comes up tails. So what can you do to make heads comes up? Well, you just need to keep flipping the coin. If you do that, there is a good chance that heads will eventually come up.

Similarly, just because you don’t succeed in your first try doesn’t mean that you’re doomed forever. Just keep at it. With persistence, chance is on your side.

3. Do what you believe in

Being persistent is easier said than done. It’s not easy to keep at it in the face of failure. That’s why it’s important that you do something you believe in. Only by doing so can you keep at it even in bad situations.

So follow your heart. Is it something you truly believe in? Or perhaps you are in it just for the money or other external rewards?

In addition to helping you be persistent, there is another big benefit of following your heart: inner fulfillment and personal satisfaction. They are even more important than money or fame.

Be careful though: there is a difference between being persistent and being stubborn. If your heart says yes and you keep at it, you are being persistent. But if your heart says no and you keep at it, you are just being stubborn.

4. Learn along the way

“Keep at it” doesn’t mean just doing the same thing over and over again until you succeed. Einstein famously said that doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results is insanity. So don’t do that. Instead, you should always improve yourself so that you can do it better next time. That way you have a good reason to expect a different result.

So, if you want to succeed in something, give it your best effort. Learn from your mistakes. Repeat.

Focus: Effort, Attention, concentration, motivation, application, single mindedness emphasis, to name but a few of its synonyms.

Having the ability to decide at each moment what merits your attention is to me one of the secrets of success. It’s been proven time and again by sports stars and high achievers If there is something you want, fearlessly focusing on it will give you a much higher probability of achieving it.

Can we focus too much?

But what happens if we focus too much on our destination, when the object of our focus becomes our waking thoughts, our daily deliberations and our midnight meditations? Can this intense concentration bring us the results that we desire?

The answer unfortunately is no, those people who set goals and struggle daily for their goals to manifest generally don’t achieve them, holding on to the goal too tightly will not assist in its acquisition.

Shooting Arrows

My husband practices archery, he has thought me the basics of shooting arrows, the stance, the technique, the pulling back but most importantly the letting go. They say the letting go is the most important bit. The energy, the focus and the goal are there but it is in letting go that the arrow reaches its target.

I heard Deepak Chopra explain the concept of letting go by using the metaphor of a gardener. The gardener plants the seed and gives the seed all it needs to survive but he doesn’t go and dig it up every day to see if it has grown. The gardener is clear about the outcome he desires, he does the work required but then he lets go or detaches himself from the outcome.

So the problem is not focusing too much but focusing on the wrong thing.

Do not focus on the goal

So the sports star should focus on the daily actions and not on the final outcome, the business person should focus on the individual tasks and not the ultimate objective. When you concentrate on the goal you are holding onto it and holding on does not work with the flow of nature and life. If you focus too intently on the goal you are not truly present, and if you are not present you cannot be open to the possibilities that life may bring.

If a sales person focuses on finalizing the sale he is not paying attention to the customer and therefore will not serve the customer according to their needs. Therefore we must remember to work with a sense of purpose and awareness of presence, if we work in this manner we will be benefiting from the increase in productivity and efficiency that being focused can bring us, but more importantly we will be moving closer to our desired outcomes in a relaxed, detached and more effective manner.

Focus on the path

And so the secret is to focus intently, but to focus on the path and not on the destination. To do all that is required to make you the best at what you do but not to concentrate on the result. If we can learn to practise and hit the best forehand that we can physically hit, the outcome we want will follow. If we do our jobs with passion and the best of our abilities then the consequences will be positive, and if we intently focus on the perfecting or doing the best possible job, our goals, our dreams and our desires should not delay in following close behind.

By practicing the art of detached focus, ironic though it may sound we can achieve more by letting go.

Motivation is the emotion that gives us the force to do something. Without motivation we would do nothing. We wouldn’t go to work without a strong motivation to pay rent and to live a comfortable life. We wouldn’t go out with friends without the motivation to have a crazy night.

It’s simple to be motivated to do those things, as they are necessities for most people. But what about things like working on your business or doing your workout that aren’t necessities? How can you be motivated to keep doing those things that you know you should do, but for one reason or another you keep postpone?

In this guide I’ll show you many ways to not only keep your motivation level always high, but also to constantly grow it.

Slice it up in daily manageable chunks. Long term results are more often the cause of small, constantly repeated actions. A sea is the sum of all the small creeks, after all. The beautiful snow is made by millions of snowflakes. A rainbow is light transformed by billions of raindrops. Just do what you have to do daily, regardless of how you feel about it.

Half an hour of writing each day will be 365 halves of an hour. And that will be 182.5 hours of writing. At a rate of only 500 words per hour (but in time you can easily get to 1000 words per hour) that would be 91.250 words written in one year. Let’s make it a round 100.000 words. Can you even imagine yourself writing now 100.000 words of good content? I thought so.

But if you slice it up in daily chunks of repeated actions you will add up. You will build brick by brick. Step by step. While browsing through my blog admin interface I saw that my blog have now more than 450.000 words written. For a moment, I couldn’t even imagine that number. Yes, you will have good days and bad days. Sometimes you’ll write 100 words, sometimes 2000. What matters is to do it daily.

Many people want to be successful in their lives for more personal fulfillment and joy. The definition of success can have a different meaning for everyone. Although everyone has their own way of finding success, there are certain things that you need to be aware of in order to have more joy and fulfillment. Make a habit of practicing these fifteen points so that you can be the rock star of your life!

1. Do something you are afraid of doing everyday – When you make a habit of getting outside of your comfort zone, you will grow strong mentally and emotionally and will see yourself getting past a lot of mental blocks.

2. Don’t overplan – There is nothing wrong with planning your goals in life, however if you try to perfect your planning, you won’t take action on any of your goals.

3. Meet new people – When you constantly meet new people, you will see yourself learning a lot about yourself and others as well. You can then use the new knowledge to contribute and help others.

4. Practice being present – When you are engaged in a specific task/activity or are having a conversation with someone, make sure that you are fully present and not caught up thinking about the past or future.

5. Take leadership roles – Start taking leadership roles in every area of your life. Organize a workshop or plan a trip or a social event. When you start taking leadership roles, your self-confidence will rise.

6. Note down all of your ideas – Whenever an idea pops into your head make sure to write it down somewhere so you can refer back to it. There are going to be those times where your mind will suddenly get creative ideas, so make sure that you have a pen and paper handy.

7. Set aside “alone time” – Spend a half hour every day by yourself in a quiet place and take time to think about your goals for the future. Think about where you want to be in the next ten years.

8. Spend more time outdoors – Get outside the house/office more often. You don’t have to plan a big trip to get out. It can be as simple as going for a hike or walking by the beach. You will be able to think clearly and focus better on your tasks. Don’t become a workaholic and get burnt out.

9. Attend seminars – Start attending helpful workshops and seminars of topics that interest you. You will be surprised by the knowledge you will gain. You will also meet like-minded people and make new friends.

10. Read more often – Turn off the television and start reading more. Once you start developing a habit of reading, you will notice that your vision will expand and you will see the world in a whole different way.

11. Don’t talk about yourself too much – If you are ever interacting with close friends or at a social event, don’t make a habit of talking about yourself and your success. This is a sign of insecurity. Instead, take interest in others unless or until someone asks you more about what you do.

12. Spend minimum time browsing the web – When you constantly browse the web, your mind will be cluttered with different images and thoughts and you will get sidetracked from all your goals. You will start getting imaginary thoughts that will get you nowhere.

13. Go to the gym at least four times a week – When you make a habit of working out frequently you will have a lot of positive energy that will help you in other areas of your life. Put it on your calendar and make it a “must do” task.

14. Don’t delay to have fun – Some people think that they need to have a lot of money in order to have fun. They think that one day that big paycheck will solve all the problems in life. Life will have its ups and downs regardless of whether you have accumulated a lot of wealth. Don’t wait for that big day to arrive to have all your fun. Enjoy every minute of life.

15. Be honest with yourself – Be very honest with yourself about who you are and what you want out of your life. Spend time thinking about what your purpose is in life. When you are aligned with your purpose in life, you won’t get many conflicting thoughts that will leave you confused about who you are.